Terri, I don't have Charter (not available where I live) but we do have phone and internet from our cable service. Generally it is fine, but we have found that the phone and net go out while the tv cable is still working. We switched based on the fact that our tv cable almost never went out...so wanted to let you know that is not a good milestone to judge the phone service with...at least with ours which is a large service.

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"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole." -Roger Caras

Terri,I don't know anything about those but I've been using MagicJack for about 3 years now and I love it. It's about $35 a year, less if you sign up for longer than a year. Calls are clear as a bell and you're not charged for long distance in the US.

Gil.

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"Best not to think about it. I don't want to fall to bits 'cos of excess existential thought."

Something to keep in mind when deciding to change phone service. The phone company service will not go out during a power outage. As long as the phone you use is a normal phone you will have phone service.

Any service other than cellular is going to stop during a power outage. Even if plugged into the computer.

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If something gets your goat, it just proves you have a goat to get.

That's absolutely true and one reason I keep a bare minimum landline and one ancient old wall phone that does not require electrical service to operate like the portable phone. Our power seldom goes out, but when it does, it's because of something like this spring when an EF 1 tornado dropped down and dropped a few power poles. Living out in the country requires extra planning!

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In my PC corner for the winter, gaming, knitting and reading.

Presently we have digital phone service and are used to being without a phone during really bad weather.We do use the cell phone during this time. We have Directv and do not subscribe to cable, we've had it since 1996 and doubt my husband would consider changing.A friend of my son's said that Magic Jack is no good and perhaps he said no tech service, can't remember on that. When I told him I was talking about Magic Jack Plus he was not familiar with it and said perhaps they worked the bugs out. My thought is how accurate the service would be in my area. I guess the only way to know is give it a go.

Just to reassure you, I've used Magic Jack for three years...actually, a little over.It has never given me the first problem. Not one.I call a friend in California (all the way across country) once in a while and talk to her for hours.The call quality is great and no long distance charge!If you have no trouble with your broadband connection, you shouldn't have any trouble with Magic Jack.

Gil.

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"Best not to think about it. I don't want to fall to bits 'cos of excess existential thought."